Productivity tools; Improving Google Chrome

Quentin Berder
on November 28, 2011

By being a digital agency, it means we spend most of our time in front of our computers, using different browsers, OS or platforms. This fragmentation leads to a decrease in our productivity. Some of the issues, such as the connection workflow to external servers, could not be addressed fully; other can be addresses, especially if they are related to the use of a browser. One of our favorite is Google Chrome, let get through some of the add ons we are heavily using in our daily work.

The credentials? It was in an email I think, let me check.

One of the most common action to do when working on several platforms (local, developments or production ones) is to log in. To do so it is first necessary to find the credentials! A few commons methods go from a simple spreadsheet, to use a local password manager such as KeePass or even tag emails (I assure you, some people do it this way). For a better integration to our workflow we use KeePass, a free cross-OS and cross-browsers password manager that is even accessible on your favorite mobile device. Your are now simply freed from the hassle of finding your credentials, in other words, you are more productive.

What time you say? Is it EDT, WEDT or PDT?

Working in Shanghai and working with customers from Beijing, Paris, Brussels, Geneva, New York, San Francisco or Washington DC leads to some serious considerations for the different time zones. Scheduling a meeting always leads to a mental gymnastic to make sure the time frame is acceptable. EasyClock is exactly doing this; enter the desired city, slide to choose your time and you will have the respective time for each of the locations. This is the easiest and most effective way to make sure you are not having meetings in the middle of the night.

Oops, I guess I forgot to do it…

We already showed that we are heavy users of Google apps, so a natural choice for our tasking system is Google Tasks. It is straightforward, clean, well integrated into Gmail’s interface and into the mailing system (possibility to create a task directly from an email). However one of the downside is that it is only accessible via Gmail interface, you can pop it out, it still require you to log in your account; this is not the most effective. Tasky by providing a one click access to your list from your Google Chrome dashboard making it easier to use.

Any other ways?

There is a lot of of Add ons related to productivity for Google Chrome, which one fits to your needs or your daily business needs depends mainly of your workflow. However solutions that are cross-browsers and cross-OS should be mainly considered as they will have stronger integration and higher flexibility.